Summation of Intro

In the introduction of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs explains her view on what is wrong with city planning. She argues that there is a perpetual error being made by city planners with the design and execution of certain areas, mostly on how to better accomodate traffic as well as low incoming housing.
The first point made in the introduction and what Jacobs will try to explain in the book, is why some neighborhoods are considered to be great and good while others are deemed to be beyond repair, dangerous and bad. Jacobs will present ideas that will contradict the norm for city planning, but ideas that may make more sense in accomodating people and preventing the decline of neighborhoods into irreperable slums.
According to Jacobs, the manner in which low income housing is constructed, along with its parks and places of recreation, instead of providing a welcoming environment turns the neighborhood into a "slum" and often a breeding ground for crime. An example used is Morningside Heights in New York City. Jacobs explains how even though this neighborhood houses many prestigious institutions including an Ivy League school, hospitals, churches, parks all over loooking a beautiful river view it was still considered a bad neighborhood where people even feared walking the streets. In the 1950's an attempt was made by city planners to try and salvage the neighborhood with the construction of a middle income cooperative project. This resulted in no progress rather in an even speedier plummit into more disorder.
Another point established is that perhaps a social aspect is in play in how we percieve neighborhoods, what we view a good neighborhood to be and what we view a bad one to be like. For example Jacobs explains how when she was in the North Side of Boston, what is considered by the Bostonians a slum, she found herself looking at a very pleasant neighborhood booming with vitality. Years before in dissaray, The North Side's formerly overcrowded apartments now housed comfortably less familes and the buildings even boasted fresh coats of paints. Jacobs puts it best when she states that city planning is trial and error, but if the same "mistakes" or ways of building are being repeated and taught to future city planners then perhaps there is no element of trial and rather just error.